Arun Shourie, a noted Journalist, Activist, Scholar and Columnist is the author of several books, several of them on a diverse range of subjects related to his journalistic interests, including corruption and brilliant exposé of the Indian Communist party's long-standing anti-national policies.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The power of pen and words whether used for appreciation
or criticism should be used wisely, according to renowned journalist
and author Arun
Shourie.

"There is nothing wrong in criticising any book or anybody's viewpoint,
but we should adopt a route of healthy criticism which reflects the
other side of the argument," Shourie said at the launch of new editions
of his bestsellers.

After the success of Shourie's book 'Does He Know a Mother's Heart' last year, Harper Collins launched the new editions of three of his bestsellers including
World of Fatwas, Falling over Backwards and Worshipping false Gods -
Ambedkar and the Facts Which Have Been Erased.

"If somebody has an argument to counter the viewpoint presented in any
book, he or she should write the book reflecting the other side rather
than banning books or burning books,"
Shourie, whose books have been celebrated, criticised and debated, said.

He added that the present era requires lengthy books that present more
facts than short books which may interest the readers but provide
half-knowledge. Advising the young authors, he said one should take up a
subject, do rigorous research and present an avalanche of facts to the
readers.

"I had read 18,000 fatwas while I was writing World of Fatwas and had written about 200 judgments of the Supreme Court in
Falling over Backwards," he said.

He added that, "If I would have quoted only one verse it would have
been out of context. Once I have done thorough research and garnered the
facts then I feel satisfied that my job is done."

Expressing his view on Shourie's' book about fatwas, former Union Minister Arif Mohammed Khan said,
"World of Fatwas has been criticised, attacked and perceived as
an attack on Muslim community, whereas according to me it is an attack
on the deviation which took place in Islamic history."

In his book 'World of Fatwas', Shourie has shown Shariah in
action, with a mountain of fatwas as his text. He has unravelled the
history of
fatwas, and the implications that a faithful, rigid adherence to these
Islamic judgments holds for the 'believer'. And hence for the
non-believers.

His book 'Worshipping False Gods- Ambedkar and the Facts that Have Been
Erased' whose decade-old cartoon of Ambedkar rocked the Parliament
for days recently casts a critical look at the legend of Ambedkar who
has has come to be idolised as no other political leader over the last
couple of decades.

In Falling Over Backwards, Arun Shourie has pointed to the
truth about reservations and has highlighted the fact that they are a
sleight of hand on the part of politicians. He has also taken apart
pro-reservation judgments of the Supreme Court.

Quoting Worshipping False Gods as most disturbing one among the
three books, Pratap Bhanu
Mehta, President, Centre for Policy Research, said, "It is the most
disturbing one because other books don't entirely surprise the readers
as some facts about it (the subject) are already in public domain."

Monday, July 30, 2012

DEBATE: The former Chief Justice of India M. N. Venkatachaliah, the
former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, and the former Union Minister Arun
Shourie at the book launch in Bangalore on Sunday. Photo: K. Murali
Kumar

New editions of Arun Shourie’s four books launched

M.N. Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India, on Sunday expressed
concern that the country had reached a stage of negative social critical
mass that unleashes a chain of destructive reactions due to various
lacunae.

“This situation is a cause of concern as we are in a stage of
destructive reactions and not reasoning,” he said, while participating
at the launch of new editions of four books of
journalist-turned-politician Arun Shourie at a programme jointly
organised by HarperCollins Publishers Indian and Jagriti here.

“We must know that children are taught in schools and educated at home.
This is the problem as the parents are now not free to focus on their
children at homes. The whole thing needs a relook from the educational
perspective,” he said, while referring to the earlier practice of
children learning about values at home.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shourie called upon parents to teach their
wards about the importance of values by setting themselves as examples.

Mr. Shourie, who shared his experiences as a writer, stressed the need
for people to speak their mind irrespective of whether others approve of
it or not.

Narrating how those who did not agree with his views mentioned in his
books related to B.R. Ambedkar and fatwas physically assaulted him,
poured tar on him, and abused him, Mr. Shourie said finally it was B.R.
Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar who came to his rescue by telling
people that the answer to [Shourie’s] book was a [another] book and not
violence.

Mr. Shourie said that public discourse was dominated by people,
especially politicians, who believed in nothing. “People do not believe
Congress’ talks of secularism and the BJP’s Hindutva as they think that
neither of these parties believe in either,” he pointed out.

Speaking on the occasion, the former Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh
Hegde advised the youth to try and understand the true meaning of world
contentment. “It is not real contentment when you acquire some
illegitimate wealth. This is only temporary as the next day itself you
would want to acquire more. The true contentment comes only when you get
something legitimately through hard work.”

The new editions of books released at the programme were Does he know a mother’s heart: how suffering refutes religions; Worshipping false gods – Ambedkar and the facts that have been erased; The work of fatwas – or the Sharia in action; and Falling over backwards – An essay of reservations and judicial populism.